Tennis fans(in the UK) will be forced to get an Amazon Prime subscription next season if they wish to see their favourite stars compete on the ATP circuit.
Amazon outbid Sky to grab the exclusive rights of broadcasting all ATP matches except the four Grand Slams. The deal has been reportedly finalised at £10m a year.
Sky used to pay around £8m a year but was outbid by Amazon this time round, as Sky reportedly did not even match its previous bid of £8m a year.
With this deal, Amazon will also be the exclusive broadcaster of the ATP World Tour Finals(held at the O2 Arena in London).
This is Amazon’s first major sport broadcasting deal outside of the US after it signed an agreement with the NFL to broadcast 10 Thursday night games in the US along with the NBC and CBS.
Sky Sports has been trying to do away with Tennis for some time now. Last year it gave up on the US Open broadcasting rights, a deal that had apparently been very lucrative for the network over the last 25 years.
It’s numbered channels have made way for sport specific channels and Tennis finds itself in the lower rung, having to be content with a mixed sport channel.
Amazon Prime has been working its way into the sporting world and should give the ‘traditional’ broadcasters a run for their money in the near future.
